Terms agreed with Valencia for stopper Ryan, but Albion face ‘lot of competition’ for Abrahams

Brighton & Albion have agreed terms with Valencia for the transfer of goalkeeper Maty Ryan and are working on personal terms.

A stopper is top of the Seagulls’ shopping list after seeing David Stockdale join Championship outfit Birmingham City on Tuesday.

Albion have agreed a deal with the Spanish club for their Australian goalkeeper, who has been away on international duty, and hope to thrash out personal terms in the ‘next day or two’.

Brighton chief executive Paul Barber said: “It’s ongoing, we have worked to do and obviously the priority right now is the goalkeeper, things are continuing on that and we hope to be in a position to move that forwards fairly imminently.

“What I can say, in terms of where we are with that (Ryan), is that it is work in process, we have agreed terms with Valencia - that is something Paul Winstanley (head of recruitment) and I did last week in Valencia.

“We are working very, very hard to agree personal terms and if we can, it will be a great signing for the club.

“We very much respect international football federations and their right to have players focused for their games. We are in this situation and we will see how we get on in the next day or two.”

Meanwhile, Albion know they face stiff competition for Chelsea hot-shot Tammy Abraham, who they have been heavily linked to.

The 19-year-old is current away with England under-21s for their Euro campaign and has put talks over his future on hold until his return.

Barber has admitted they are interested in the young striker, but knows that Newcastle and other clubs are keen on a loan deal.

He said: “It is no secret that Tammy is a player that is of interest to us. There is a lot of competition, he is terrific talent and fine young player.

“Again, we don’t have a single player on our list, we have a cluster of players of similar or the same quality and that’s how we work.”

Goalkeeper Niki Maenpaa is one set to agree a new deal at The Amex imminently and Barber hinted that the hold-up on that announcement was summer holidays.

He added: “Work is continuing with all players that are looking at new contracts. These processes are always interrupted with holidays and people having a break.

“In an idea world, you’d have a very quick and rapid process, but an ideal world does not exist. Work is ongoing and we very much want Niki to stay with the club and we are looking forward to having him here next season.”